"June, come on, it's time to get up," My arm was shaken gently, waking me up. I rubbed my eyes and saw that Glenn was the one who woke me up. I put on my socks and shoes, walking out to see only a few of the group wasn't awake. I sat with Sofia and Carl like usual and noticed Eliza and Louis were missing. Miranda was close by, so I decided to ask.
"Where's Eliza and Louis?" I asked her.
"They're still sleeping. I'll get them up in a bit," She answered me.
"Okay," I said, returning my focus to the food being given to me. The rest of the group chatted away, but nothing caught my interest until I saw Merle and Ed talking. My two least favorite people talking and getting along made my stomach sick. I watched as Ed showed the bite on his arm from Ace and gestured to where Ace was laying beside Sofia and I. My stomach turned even more when they began laughing with one another, joking around. If this didn't solidify my distaste for Merle, nothing would. I made a mental note to keep an eye on them, getting a gut feeling that something is going to go wrong. I ate my food, and soon Shane had something to say.
"Now, if I can have everyone's attention," Shane started. "This is a hard decision to make, but we need to go into the city. The supplies on the highway will only last so long and Dale needs a part to fix the RV. I'm looking for some volunteers."My hand raised up, just to be shot a look from Shane.
"No June,"
"I am going. Clearly, none of you are aware of the herds and how to actually avoid them, not just wait them out," I stated. I will die on this hill, I am going.
"And how do you know?" Merle sneered with Ed beside him.
"Because I lived ALONE in the city for a week before any of you came along. All the food that was in the U-Haul was mine. I got food, I survived. Glenn ran into the building I was in by accident," A few of the group members looked over at Glenn as if asking if what I was saying was true. Glenn nodded, confirming what I said.
"Plus, I know where to find a ton of food and I know where the repair store is that we can find what Dale needs," I added. Shane still seemed hesitant, as well as Glenn.
"I don't know June. The city is getting more dangerous by the day," Glenn said.
"She could be a guide for you all. She could stay in a safe place, just show everyone where to go," Dale suggested.
"I'm not taking directions from a little kid," Ed stated.
"Then don't come," I said, looking back at him. He grumbled at my reply, crossing his arms. He acted like such a child, and that's saying something.
"If she goes, I am as well," Glenn said.
"Me too," Jacqui piped up.
"I can go as well," Dale volunteered.
"I think for the first trip we'll keep it to four," Shane suggested, getting nods from the group. I shot up from my seat with Ace following behind me. I grabbed my bag, checking that I had everything, Crowbar, scissors, the knife Daryl gave me, a fork, and a can of food for an emergency. I packed all that I needed and went over to the U-Haul where Glenn was filling it with gas.
"We should stop the U-Haul somewhere near the edge of the city. It makes too much noise," I suggested, walking over. Dale and Jacqui also overheard me.
"Good idea," Glenn replied as he finished filling up the gas tank.
"Listen, June," Glenn started. "I know you can take care of yourself, alright?" I nodded, not knowing what this was about.
"I need you to be safe; Don't take risks unless it's absolutely necessary," He warned. I nodded in reply.
"Alright, then let's get going," Dale said.
"Wait!" I heard Shane call from behind me.
"You know how to use these," Shane asked, holding a few handguns. Jacqui, Glenn, and Dale all got one.
"I know how to use one," I told Shane, looking up at him. He looked at Glenn as if asking permission. Glenn nodded. Shane grabbed me one.
"Now here's the safety-" He started.
"Leave the safety on until you need it, don't put your finger on the trigger unless you're aimed and ready to shoot, and make sure to always keep it down if you aren't ready to shoot," I listed off what my Papa would recite every time he let me use his guns.
"I know how to use a gun," I reassured, taking it from him. It had a holster along with it, so I put it on, sliding the gun into the holster.
"Alright, be careful out there," Shane said, wishing us a farewell.
"Hey Shane," I called before we left.
"Yeah?" He replied. I motioned him down to me and whispered in his ear.
"Keep an eye on Merle and Ed for me. Ace isn't here to protect Sofia and Carol, or any of you," I whispered. He nodded to me, hopefully understanding what I meant. I hopped into the back of the U-Haul with Jacqui and Ace. Dale and Glenn sat upfront with Glenn driving.
"Well June, you're in charge. Where are we going?" Dale asked, looking back at me.
"We'll park the U-Haul just inside the city, but we have to go on foot after that," I stated.
"And then?" Glenn asked.
"We go to the shop over by the apartment we stayed in," I explained,
"Then we head into the apartment complexes and go through them for food," I continued.
"Sounds good to me," Jacqui said. It didn't take long to get to the highway, and then to the city. Glenn stopped after we got two blocks into the city, right in front of two apartment complexes that we could scavenge through after we got the repair part.
We all got out as quietly as possible. There was complete silence besides our footsteps and the light jingling of Ace's chain collar. My walking turned into a jog, peeking around a building to see if the coast was clear. It wasn't, but I snapped my fingers and pointed at the walkers for Ace to take them out. I snuck through the alleyways, leading the group to the apartment Glenn and I stayed in. We had walked about two miles into the city,
"Okay, it should be not four blocks down this way," I informed them. I looked around the corner of the building to see almost ten dead ones in the street. I sighed and turned back to lead the group through the alleyways to the repair place. We finally made it there, seeing the RVs on the side of the building. I knew that the repair place most likely didn't have what Dale needed, but the RV's definitely did.
"Why don't we just take one from these RVs?" Jacqui suggested.
"I don't have my tools," Dale replied to her.
"Come on, there has to be something you can use in here," Glenn said opening the door for everyone to go into the repair shop. Ace found a dead one over in the back room, dragging an arm over to me after he completed his task. He set it by my feet, wagging his tail proudly.
"Good boy, Ace," I said, petting him as a reward. Dale grabbed the few tools he needed and went outside to the RVs. Dale climbed up the ladder as Jaqui stood guard with her gun out. Glenn also went up with Dale, helping him out with the removal of the control panel. Ace watched out for them while I stayed back, closer to the repair shop door.
"Okay, we got it," Glenn spoke softly, handing it down to me. They both came down from the roof of the RV and put the panel in my backpack.
"Is there anything else we need here?" Jacqui asked before we left.
"No, I have most of the tools that they carry already," Dale replied.
"We should grab a crowbar for each of us. We'll need them for the apartments," Glenn said. He grabbed one for himself, Jacqui, and Dale, and off we went back to the U-Haul. As we walked through, Ace scouted ahead. Once we were about three blocks from the U-Haul, Ace alerted us of a herd. He made a low growl towards the direction of the herd. I saw it approaching us from down the road.
"Herd on its way, we need to go around," I stated and began leading them down another path.
"Maybe we should just wait it out," Dale suggested, stopping me only for a moment.
"No, that'll take an hour or more, we need to go around," I insisted, leading them over a few blocks. Ace stayed close now, and we slowly made our way to the U-Haul. I heard sighs of relief behind me as we walked up to the U-Haul. Dale took the control panel out of my backpack.
"Alright, now for the apartments," Glenn said. He headed in with Ace, clearing out any walkers that were there. One was in the lobby, but I still heard the raspy growls above. I motioned for Ace to go up the stairs before we did, and he did so obediently. He ran up the stairs, and soon enough a walker fell off the stairs from over the railing. It fell hard and fast, splatting on the first floor. I looked down to see the pile of dead flesh that was once a human. Jacqui, Dale, and Glenn looked horrified, but when Ace came down with blood on his mouth I praised him like usual.
"Good boy Ace!" I pet him, getting the walker blood on me, but I didn't mind.
"Come on, we've got a lot of work to do," I started up the stairs, with them following behind hesitantly. They seemed to be a little shaken up from seeing the walker fall, but they recovered quickly. I started opening up, door after door with my crowbar, and Ace immediately began clearing the apartments.
"We can open everything up, and set it in the middle of the hall. Then we can all take it down after we get the floor done," I instructed. Dale and Jacqui buddied up, and Glenn went with me clearing the apartments of any edible food. We didn't find a lot in each one, but with ten apartments and two or three things in each for the five floors we will be searching, that's more than enough food.
"The food really piles up after a few apartments, huh?" Jacqui commented, looking at the food pile that we had made so far.
"Yeah, this was a good idea June," Dale commended me.
"Thank you," I responded as I set some cans down. We proceeded to take the food from the apartments and finished up the first floor. We switched to have Glenn and Jacqui take the first floor's supplies to the U-Haul. Dale, Ace, and I went up a floor, clearing that out. By the time we finished clearing the apartments on the second floor, Glenn and Jacqui were done putting the supplies in the U-Haul. We continued all the way up the building, before going back to the U-Haul.
"Do we want to go through the other apartment building or is this enough for now?" Jacqui asked, looking over at the apartment complex next to the one we just cleaned out.
"It's only two o'clock. We have the time," Dale piped in.
"We'll stay until four, just to get whatever we can out of the apartments, but still get back by four-thirty for dinner," Glenn suggested. Everyone agreed and we set off to scavenge through the other apartment complex. We switched up the buddy system we had. Aunt Jacqui was with me now, and Dale stuck with Glenn. Dale kept an eye on the time, and once we finished the third floor of the building, Dale told us it was time to leave.
We all hauled the food into our vehicle, and we headed back to camp. It wasn't too cramped in the back of the U-Haul, but we didn't have a lot of room. The drive home was quiet, which bored me slightly, but thankfully the drive was short. We arrived at the camp, getting out of the back. I was tackled into a hug by Carl, Sofia, Eliza, and Louis.
"You're back!" Sofia exclaimed as the hug pile continued. They released me from the hug, dragging me along to play with them. I giggled as I was pulled by Sofia over to an open area. I saw the others handling the unloading of supplies, so I continued to play with my friends.
Dinner was being made as we got back and I could smell the rabbit cooking. I watched as Carol carefully flipped the rabbit meat in the pan with her fingers. Lori was cooking as well, making some concoction of vegetables and rice. I got bored of playing and saw Daryl wiping off his crossbow's arrows. They had blood covering about halfway down the arrow. I walked up behind him, observing what he was doing.
"What?" He asked once he noticed me.
"I'm just watching," I replied.
"You do a lot of that," He commented, going back to what he was doing. He continued to set the arrows into the crossbow, and pull the string back, loading an arrow into it. He set it to the side, looking back over to me.
"You're still here?" He asked. I nodded in response.
"You're a weird kid," He said.
"I'm no weirder than you," I retorted in a deadpan tone. He made a quiet 'hmm' sound in response.
"How often do you think you'll be going hunting?" I asked.
"What, the food we got isn't enough?" Daryl asked.
"I just want to go hunting," I explained. Just as Daryl was going to speak, Merle pitched in his two cents.
"Oh really, well I don't know if you can handle a hunting trip with us kid," Merle snickered.
"Merle's right, you wouldn't have much fun with us. I don't know how your 'papa' hunted with you, but it isn't how we do it," Daryl sided with Merle.
"I won't know until I try it," I retorted.
"Daryl sugar-coated it for you kid, so let me give you the truth. We don't want you slowing us down." Merle crouched down.
"This entire group is slowing ME down. I'm tired of being here all the time," I replied, looking Merle dead in the eyes.
"You got to leave today?" Daryl pointed out.
"Because Dale suggested it. They don't let me do anything unless Dale says that he'll watch over me," I argued.
"How old are you?" Merle asked.
"Nine," I replied.
"Well, there's the issue. You're a child; They see you as someone weak who can't take care of themselves," Merle said.
"But I can, and clearly you think the same if you believe I'll slow you down," I sassed him.
"We don't think you're weak, you're just little. You can't be as strong as us even if you wanted to be," Daryl explained.
"Ever lived alone in a zombie apocalypse? There's something I did that's stronger than something you've done," I said.
"Got us there, but we still aren't taking you," Merle stated, walking off to wherever. I wasn't really interested in him. I looked back at Daryl with pleading eyes.
"Don't look at me, kid," Daryl said, walking off as well. I huffed to myself, disappointed by their reply. I got up, went to Dale, and sat with him by the campfire. I watched as Merle and Daryl talked together, but decided not to pay attention at the moment. I'll find a way to convince them later.
"Hey, how are you?" Dale asked as I sat beside him.
"I'm fine," I replied, but what Merle and Daryl said was still on my mind.
"I saw you talking to Daryl and Merle, did they say something or?" Dale pried.
"Yes and no, I'll talk about it later," I said, wanting to talk to him once he had the first watch tonight. I knew he'd talk to me then. He helped me last time with my urge to help. Maybe he'd do it again.
"Alright, I have first watch tonight, if you'd like to talk then," Dale offered. I nodded with a smile. I got up, leaving him to talk to Carol and Lori. I went to spend time with Ace, giving him his food. We had thankfully found another bag in the city. It wasn't long before dinner was called, and the group gathered around the campfire. Everyone got their food and ate happily. Lori and Carol were very good cooks in my opinion.
A majority of us were very tired and decided to go to bed early. I got into bed, saying goodnight to Glenn. I waited for everyone to be asleep and snuck out of my tent to talk to Dale. He met me with a kind smile and put his arm around me in a side hug.
"So, what's bothering you?" Dale asked.
"I told Daryl that I wanted to hunt, and Merle said that I would slow them down," I started with the context first.
"Okay," Dale said just to show that he was listening.
"He said that the rest of the group see me as someone too weak to take care of themselves," I confessed. That statement was the one that was truly bothering me.
"Oh June, Merle is… for lack of a better word, an asshole. You're doing more than anyone would ever ask of you already," Dale assured me.
"I wouldn't have been able to even go to the highway or the city without your suggestion. I have no way of convincing them unless you suggest it," I explained with a frustrated tone.
"I understand why you're frustrated, but June," He set a hand on my shoulder. I locked eyes with him.
"No one thinks you're weak. You're one of the strongest here," Dale reassured me.
"Then why is everyone holding me back from helping?" I questioned.
"Because you are a child and you shouldn't have to do so much work. It isn't normal for a child to be doing half of what you have," Dale replied.
"We're all doing things we shouldn't have to do. We live in the middle of the woods in tents out of fear of the walkers getting to us," I retorted.
"You're right… Think of it this way, do Sofia or Carl do what you have?"
"Carl went out to the highway," I said.
"I know, but he didn't go to the city. The only reason Carl went to the highway was because Shane was going to watch him," Dale said.
"Yeah," I said defeatedly.
"It must be hard not knowing your role here. Especially when you were able to assign yourself one at one point, but we do want what's best for you," Dale said.
"I hardly know any of you," I said. "I've only known you for six days. I've only known Glenn a week, and now he's who takes care of me."
"You might just have to give us the benefit of the doubt for now," Dale said, wrapping an arm around my shoulder to comfort me. I sighed at his response, not knowing what to say. All I knew was that now I felt absolutely exhausted. I yawned laying my head on Dale's shoulder.
"I think it's time for you to go to bed," Dale said, giving me one last squeeze of the hug, before sending me off to bed. I got into bed, with Ace snuggled up to me. It took seconds to fall fast asleep.